Ellis' Story
by SouthernSuperman
Summary: The story of Ellis as told by SouthernSuperman.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, you comin'? We doin' this for you!"

"Yeah, yeah.." I grumbled as I ran to catch up with the back of Keith's greasy orange hair.

I reached the old blue Ford truck to find Keith already inside, key in the ignition.

I climbed in and began to shut the door till I heard a small bark.

I looked down and laughed. "Get on in, Luanne."

Keith's little dog jumped in and crawled in the seat between us and we took off.

"Why're we doin' this, again?"

Keith shot me a look. "It's your birthday!"

I gave him that 'And?' look.

"You don't need to be seen all single on your birthday, El."

I shrugged. "Maybe I ain't ready for no new girlfriend."

"'Ay don't you gimme none of that now."

I shrugged again and turned my attention to the window.

It was but another hot day in Savannah, and seeing that it was my birthday, Keith was determined to help me find a girl.

Almost two months earlier, my lady Sarah Jane had told me she was leavin' for Jacksonville, Florida to live with some guy named John or Jack, or maybe Jace.

I was upset at first, but seein' I didn't want anyone to know, I tried to act like my normal self. Keith could always tell, though.

I'd known Keith since the first day of third grade. He and his momma had just moved from somewhere up in Tennessee to my little old town just outside of Savannah, Georgia. His daddy had been real mean to him and his momma so they had to get out, and he was the only new kid in our little old school house.

No one really liked Keith very much, at least not at first, 'cause he was older than the rest of us since he got held back a grade. But I didn't care.

_"Hey, I'm Ellis! I live here."_

_"I'm Keith."_

_"Where'r you from Keith?"_

_"Me and Momma came down from Tennessee 'cause my daddy hit her too much."_

_"That ain't right, but I'm glad you're here now, 'cause we can be friends!"_

_"I like that, Ellis._"

And that was that.

Next thing our mommas knew, we were always at each others' houses, always hangin' out, gettin' into all kinds of trouble.

Our mommas always said we was two peas in a pod.

That was years ago and now it was my nineteenth birthday, and Keith was set on getting me a new girlfriend by drivin' around town in his Gran'daddy's old blue pick-up.

The more we talked about it, the more I thought about miss Sarah Jane. Sometimes I'd get sad and miss her, but then sometimes I'd kinda start to like the idea of a new girlfriend.

Keith told me Sarah was only with me 'cause she thought I was good lookin', but she really didn't like me. I always told him he was wrong, but then on the day she left, she said somethin' about my abdominals or whatever, and then laughed and said somethin' about how stupid I was.

It was true, I didn't finish high school, but neither did Keith so I figured it was okay.

"Hey, what if we go find you a girl in another state?" he

I turned away from the window, as well as my thoughts.

"What?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'mma send you off to like, Louisiana or somethin'. Maybe.. Texas!"

I just shook my head and laughed.

"Someday, I'mma do it."

_Someday, huh._


	2. Chapter 2

"Bye, Momma." I gave my momma a tight hug that lasted for forever, but still wasn't long enough.

She pulled back and looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you, Ellis, baby."

"I'm gonna miss you, too, Momma."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Now, Keith, I swear, you keep him outta trouble."

"Don't you worry 'bout nothin', Momma McKinney." Keith grinned.

We were leavin' for Texas, somewhere Keith had one day said I'd go, but I never thought he'd be right. I didn't wanna leave my momma, and I was a little uneasy about leavin' my hometown, as well, but I told her I'd come back to Savannah to visit before she even knew I was gone.

Although we had the money to buy plane tickets, we decided to save all that we could and just drive the whole way, Keith and I takin' turns when the other got tired.

My momma had given me all my college money, and then some, she'd saved and told me to go use it on a house in Texas, and it was so much that it almost made me cry, too.

That money, plus the money from the mechanic business me and Keith had was gonna get me a house sooner or later, but Keith's ex-girlfriend apparently "owed him" (that's what he said), and so she got him an apartment he said I could stay in as long as I wanted to.

We took my Chevy, so I drove most of the way, but I let Keith drive a little when I was feelin' like I was gonna fall asleep. We only stopped a couple times for food or to use the bathroom, so we made it in about a day, and by the time we got to Keith's apartment and unloaded, he was so tired he went straight to bed.

I wasn't that tired and pretty curious, so I went to check out the place we were gonna be moving our business, and went to pick up some groceries so we'd have breakfast in the mornin', even though neither of us really knew how to cook.

As I drove, I looked around to see just how different things were here than from my home state.

_"Welcome to Austin, Texas"_, a big hand-painted mural read.

I smiled to myself. Maybe I'd like it better here than I thought.

I pulled up to the small building and cut the engine.

What looked like an office connected to two old garages that looked in great need of a new paint job sat behind the chainlink fence before me.

I looked at the key on the dash, grabbed it and hopped out. Unlocking the gate, I felt a bit of a sense of hope come over me, like this was gonna take off and Keith and I were gonna do great.

I inspected the grounds, the garages and the office, inside and out, and decided that it really was as good as it looked; lots of space for cars to park, a nice sized office and some decent garages. The whole thing would need repainting, and of course we'd have to add our logo somewhere, but Keith and I were pros when it came to teamwork.

I smiled to myself.

_Welcome to Austin, Texas._

I was gonna make my momma proud.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Five years later…**_

"I'm just always leavin', ya know?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah, you believe me, I do!" Keith jabbed a finger in my direction with a grin.

It was true, I was leavin', again, but this time, I was goin' back home to Georgia.

It had been four years since I'd been, the last time bein' to see my momma before she passed. Thankfully she'd come to Texas to visit me and Keith, and to see how we fixed up our garage.

And now it was time for me to go home, to see how things were, so Keith had promised he'd be fine while I was gone, and I hopped on the next flight to Savannah.

With my momma gone, I headed for _The Vannah_, the best hotel around, after arriving late that night. I got my key from a pale and wary-looking desk clerk, went up to my room, and crashed for the night, only to be woken up once around two a.m. by police cars surrounding the area, but I ignored it and fell back asleep.

But the next morning, I was woken up by the blare of a fire alarm in the hotel. I jumped into my coveralls and threw my boots on and headed for the door, opening only to see a young black woman standing in front of me.

"Hey, you need to get out, the building's on fire!"

She had apparently been warning other guests on her way out, 'cause she turned to the door across the hall and began to knock loudly.

"Shit." I mumbled under my breath, before being nearly thrown against the wall by a passing brawl between some guy and a riot cop, who was now being beat in the head with his own shotgun.

I jumped at the sound of a rifle shot and watched as the crazed hotel guest dropped to the ground over the cop's body, only to see another armour-clad figure rush past.

_The hell is going on here?! _I thought to myself, and then something began to spark inside me, and I suddenly jumped out into the hall, grabbed the shotgun, and turned to find the nearest staircase.

"Hey, where you goin'?" the woman from earlier called as a larger man of the same skin tone came out of the room she had just reached.

"Stairs," I gestured towards the door. "I'mma figure out what the hell's goin' on here."

I turned and began walking again before I soon realized she was behind me, along with the larger man.

"Oh my God.. why do you have a gun?!" She gasped.

"Shh!" I shushed her. "Somethin' don't feel right about this, and if you're comin', I suggest y'stay close."

We reached the door to the stairs and I felt it with my hand before shoving it open.  
"Helloooo?"

There was no response.

"Hey, y'all, right this way." I motioned for the two others to come out of the hallway, the larger man hanging a bit behind, now armed with a crowbar he had found lyin' next to someone's dead body.

We made our way up the stairs to the roof where we saw a tall man, dark hair and a little scruff on his face and wearin' some fancy white suit standing over the fenced-off edge of the roof.

"Hey, you alright?" The large man approached the suit. But he didn't answer.

Then I turned at the sound of helicopter blades, only to see just that, big and black, heading in our direction.

"HEY! HEY, DOWN HERE! HEEEYY!" I waved my arms to get its attention.

After a short series of yelling between me and my two new companions, not including the man in the white suit, the large dark man shook his head.

"He ain't comin' back."

And he was right.

So it was just the four of us; me and my coveralls, the lady in the pink t-shirt with the ginormous hoops in her ears, the large man with the purple and yellow polo on, and now the tall man in the white suit, stuck on a roof of a burning building.

What could be wrong with that?


End file.
